Betty V. Snell Bjornrud, 93, passed away on May 18, 2016, at her home in Kalispell.
Betty was born Sept. 9, 1922, in Great Falls to Wilbur M. and Vivian (Edmister) Cavitt. She attended summer grade school at Grandview, south of the Sweet Grass Hills. She graduated from Galata High School in 1939.
She married James H. Snell in 1940, and they farmed in Devon, Montana, until moving to a farm in the Lake Blaine area. They had six children, James M. and wife Kim, Sue Donaldson, and Donna Gilbertson and husband Ted, who were all born in Shelby; Robert, John and wife Sharon, and Lois Hook, who were all born in Kalispell. Her children attended the Cayuse Prairie School, which sat in the corner of their farm. She was active in the PTA and spent many hours with other neighborhood mothers keeping the school clean and nice for the teachers and students. When ball games were played against other schools, she would load all the kids from Cayuse up in the back of a grain truck and head to either Mountain Brook, Lake Blaine or Creston schools, wherever the next game was being played.
Betty was a farm wife for 35 years, but worked at the Farmers Union Exchange, and Cenex when her children were grown. She retired in 1986. She was married a second time to Victor Bjornrud, who passed away in 1999.
She was preceded in death by her parents, brother Bill Cavitt, granddaughter Tiffany Snell, and sons-in-law Dr. Edwin Donaldson and Daryl Hook.
She is survived by her six children; sisters, Mildred Dobeas of Great Falls and Lucille Russell of Conrad, and sister-in-law Darlene Cavitt of Big Sandy; plus stepdaughter Kari and husband Bill Lincoln of Lakeside, Rita Webb of Columbia Falls, Gayle and husband Dr. Fred Stout of Missoula, and Shirley Chirgwen and husband John. She has 15 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and nine great-great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
There will be a visitation from 3 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 22, at Buffalo Hill Funeral Home. A celebration of life service will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, May 23, at Calvary Lutheran Church with a luncheon to follow.